Rise of the Guardians: Shadow of Death
by Cybertramon001
Summary: Elizabeth was an ordinary girl. She cared about her family, her friends, her brother. But that all changed the day she was struck by a car. Now, she's meeting people she thought were make-believe. And she is now at the heart of a new struggle that could change the world for good. So she has to choose. Will she give in to despair? Or will she fight? Rated M for death and swearing.
1. New Beginnings

**I saw Rise of the Guardians today, and this idea just popped into my head, just like that. I don't want to spoil anything about it just yet, but observant people might notice what could happen after reading the opening lines. I'll talk some more after I post the second chapter.**

** This story takes place one year after Guardians.**

Chapter 1: New Beginnings

_"And when the Lamb broke the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature saying, "Come." I looked, and behold, an ashen horse; and he who sat on it had the name Death; and Hades was following with him. Authority was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by the wild beasts of the earth."_

It was a lovely day in Burgess. The sun was shining high overhead, the birds were singing, and all the children were laughing as they played in the late-seasonal snow. They chanted 'Jack Frost' over and over, while snowballs came out of nowhere and made them laugh harder. Elizabeth smiled as she watched little Sophie play with her big brother Jamie. As his next door neighbour, they had been friends ever since he was old enough to talk. Recently, she had been his babysitter, running after the little brat and his excitable sister when their parents were out late. He was such a cheerful guy, going on and on about the Easter Bunny, and Santa, and the Tooth Fairy. If you listened to him, he and all the other kids helped them stop the Boogeyman from taking over the world last year.

If only _her_ little brother could be out here playing.

Matt had been diagnosed with very severe Asthma at a young age, along with minor HIV. It meant that he had difficulty breathing, and he caught illnesses far too easily. He could never go outside and play with all the other children, as all the strenuous activity could push him too far. But he never let him down for long. He especially enjoyed it when his big sister took time to play with him. But everyone was so worried. The doctors kept saying that he might not be around for much longer.

She shook her head out of her funk, just in time to dodge a snowball aimed at her. She giggled as Jamie prepared to throw another one.

"Wow, Jack." He said to thin air. "Guess you're not such a sure-shot after all." A snowball came out of nowhere and knocked him slightly, causing him to drop his snowball. She waved at him until her phone started ringing. Probably her mum, asking her to do an errand for her.

"Hey mum, what'd you need?" She said as she answered it.

"Oh I'm so sorry dear," Mum replied. "But could you head on over to your father's? He's got a list of things I need, and it's rush-hour for him."

"Don't worry. I'll get it." She nearly groaned as she got up from her seat. Dad's list took forever, usually because he'd put on everything he could think of. Not just things for home, but things for work, or school, or for customers even. So a thirty minute run usually ended up taking around an hour or two to do. And her whole body ached afterwards. It was times like that that she wished mum and dad let her have a car. She passed her driving test a month ago; she knew how to handle herself on the road. And it wasn't like anyone got hurt during Jamie's 'runaway sled' incident. But, they only had one car. Dad used it almost every day for work.

But she still did them, because Mum was busy keeping an eye on Matt all day. And Dad was busy making sure that there was enough money for his next lot of medication. So that just left her to do everything else. She ran down the street, careful to watch out for black ice and other hazards. In no time, she had reached Dad's 'Store of Everything', and was working up a sweat under her old jacket. That's Dad for you; he was never very good at naming things. But despite the name (Or, she thought, _because_ of it) it was very busy most of the time. Not bad for a building that used to hold just one store instead of about five. She barely heard the bell over the sound of customers, and she had to squeeze her way in after the door got stuck behind someone. She coughed as she walked smack-dab into a lady trying out the make-up and perfume section, got bounced off someone's behind as they bended over, and had to duck as a couple of workers battered their way through with a new TV. It was almost like she was dancing, once she got the rhythm going. Eventually, she got through to the counter, climbing over it to reach the backroom.

"Hey, Elizabeth." Her dad called out while he was getting a box of stuff off a shelf. He was an average man, with a shock of curly brown hair and a pair of old square-framed glasses. "Crazy day, huh? I think at least half the town is in there."

"Hey Dad." She replied, grabbing his ladder before it fell out from under him again. "Guess those specials were a bit too good. Mum said you had a list for me?"

"A list? List of what?" She groaned. Dad could be so forgetful at times. She lost track of how many days she helped out here and a customer had been waiting for nearly an hour because he forgot about them. "By the way, could you be a dear and grab that hammer for me? This shelf feels a bit wobbly." He didn't even look as he traded her the box of goods for the hammer. She grunted as she wobbled under the weight, quickly placing it down on a nearby table. "Oh, can you grab the box with the chocolate in it, over by the wall? And can you do a few favours for me? I've got a list in the cashier. Only thing is, somehow I've gotten your mother's hand-writing along the way."

"That's probably because it's Mum's list she mentioned." She answered as she grabbed the chocolate and put it by the other box. The table groaned ominously under the weight.

"Your mother made a list? Oh, that's right! I was supposed to give it to you when you got here." He laughed as he got down and pulled some batteries out of the big box. "I swear, I'd forget my head sometimes if it wasn't screwed on."

"Well you do keep for getting your pants."

"What? I don't forget my pants."

"Sure you do. Every Fourth of July, you rush out of the house as fast as you can, and you keep forgetting about pants."

"And who keeps remembering to bring me them? You do, that's who." He yelled back as he rushed into the store to restock the batteries. "And who brings me my lunch when I leave it at home? You do." He rushed past with a handful of tin toys. "And who helps me out when I forget the combination to the safe?"

She laughed as he rushed back in again. "I do."

He stopped and smiled at her. "That's right, sweetheart." He sighed as he hugged her. "You're a better adult than I am. God knows where we'd be without you."

She smiled back at him. "So, can I finally have a car then?"

"Not on your life." She groaned as he reached for the box of chocolate, not even blinking when the table wobbled like crazy.

"But Dad. All my friends have cars. And they get to head on over to Michigan whenever they feel like it. Do you have any idea how embarrassing it is to have to hitch a ride with your friends?"

"Now, now young lady." He scolded her. "Back in _my_ day, we had to walk to Michigan. Every day for school. And we only got a little bottle of milk for breakfast, and you had to do gym in the rain and snow…"

"…And it was a big day when we didn't have to have broccoli for lunch." She said along with him. They had this argument so often, she could recite it off by heart. "But what about when they all go to College? This is our last year of school, and everything is so far away. I don't want to have to stay stuck here forever, you know? I want to see the world."

Her dad looked at her, smiling a sad smile. "I know you do. There's nothing more I'd love than to help you fulfil your dreams. But things are just too hectic right now. Maybe when you're older, we can think of something."

"That's what you said last time." She nearly cried. He didn't say anything. He just pulled her into a hug. They stayed like that until a clerk came in looking for them.

"Mr. Wittershine?" He asked. "We _really _need that chocolate now. The customers look like they're ready to eat me."

"Alright, Philip. I'll be out soon." He smiled at her as he picked up the box, placing one hand on her chin. "Chin up, hon. Things will get better, I promise."

"Thanks Dad." She whispered as he rushed out to a crowd of loud voices. It took a little while to finally clear enough people for him to come back in, a list in one hand.

"Now you better get this done, or your mother will have our heads." She had a quick look-over at the list and mentally groaned. Trust Dad to choose big, heavy, awkward items. But, she had a job to do. She weaved her way back out of the store, waving at the pet department as she left.

"Say hi to Bruno for me." She yelled back at her dad, before rushing out to get the things done quickly.

Dad hadn't been kidding about Mum wanting their heads if they were late.

**/~-~\**

"Thanks for that Mr. Bowman." She said as she pushed a large trolley full of groceries and clothes out the back door. "And I'm really sorry for having to borrow your cart again."

The much-older Bowman smiled as he shook her hand. "Not to worry. Sometimes I think I should just let you keep it, the amount of times you borrow it."

"You know my parents would never accept. They'd see it as hindering your own store."

"Oh pish-posh. It doesn't hinder me at all. Now, you'd better get going. Old Theresa will work up a storm if her eldest isn't back in time for dinner."

I know." Elizabeth replied as she quickly scooted the trolley away. She quickly, but carefully ran down the street, making sure not to hit anybody with the trolley's heavy payload. She started cursing under her breath as she panted. At this rate, she'd never make it home. Oh, why did Dad need such obscure items anyway?

"Hey Beth." Jamie shouted as he passed on a trail of frost. "Aren't you running a bit late?"

"Really? I didn't notice." She replied sarcastically.

"You know, Jack Frost could get you home in a jiffy." She scoffed. Jack Frost was a made-up character. There wasn't really a boy running around a painting frost and snow on everything. "C'mon, it'll be great. He got me through all that traffic last year."

Fine. She'll humour him. "Oh Great and Mighty Jack Frost. He whoith be wise and skilled, handsome and brave. Aid this here maiden with her most heavy burden of getting home before dinner." She shrieked as a path of frost suddenly formed under her feet, causing her to jump onto the trolley before she lost control of it. The path wound round traffic and obstacles like it had a mind of its own, sidestepping trucks and buildings with ease. It wasn't long before she and Jamie skidded into a large snowbank that Elizabeth was _certain_ hadn't been there before in the morning. Oh well.

"That was fun." Jamie squealed. "Let's do that again."

"Sorry Jamie. But by butt is freezing after that. I'd better check that nothing got damaged during the trip." She stretched out and pulled the trolley out of the snow bank before brushing it off.

"Ok. But you're still coming over tonight, right?"

"Of course I am. Your parents still owe me twenty dollars."

"Yay!" it'll be so much fun." And with that, he dragged his sled over to his house. Elizabeth sighed once she was certain everything was still there and undamaged. Then, with a lot of grunts, she dragged the whole thing over to her garage.

If she had believed, she might've noticed a white-haired boy watching her from the power lines.

**/~-~\**

"So." Her mother said during dinner. "How was everyone's day?" Elizabeth worried about her mum sometimes. Everytime she saw her, her long black hair seemed streaked with more grey. Even though she put on a brave face for everyone, Elizabeth could still tell she was worried about Matt.

"This steak is delicious." Dad replied, before realising what she had asked. "Oh. Well, things finally started to calm down after Liz grabbed the list. And I think we're all sold out of eggs now."

"Not much." Elizabeth said, playing with her mashed potato. "Got everything on the list, watched Jamie and his friends having a snowball fight."

"Well, Matt said saw a very large hare hopping around the back yard." Mum said proudly. "He said it was carrying chicken eggs. And I think you told me it had a belt on."

"That wasn't a hare, mum. That was the Easter Bunny." Matt replied. He looked rather adorable, with Dad's curly hair and a cute set of rainbow glasses. His meal wasn't as big as everyone else's, since he never really ate that much. "He was six feet tall, and hopped around on his back feet. And he was carrying a basket full of Easter eggs. We should really leave a note asking him if he could hide them inside this year. I'd love to go on an Easter Hunt."

Mum laughed. "Alright honey. I'll leave the note out tonight for him." Elizabeth knew mum was only teasing. She was too old to believe in the Easter Bunny. Only Matt still believed. "But only if you eat all your greens."

Matt groaned. "But they don't taste nice."

Elizabeth saw Mum giving her 'The Look', so she had to help. "If you eat all your greens, then you can be big and strong like me. Plus, the Easter Bunny has a helper."

"He does?"

"Oh yes. He's called the Green Spotter. He goes into the houses and watches everyone. And if he finds out that someone hasn't eaten their greens, poof. All the Easter Eggs vanish." He stared at her, wide-eyed, before nearly drinking down his vegetables. Mum gave her a thankful look. "Well, I'd better get moving. Don't want to be late for Mr. and Mrs. Bennet."

"Have a good time over there." Mum called out to her as she put her plate into the dishwasher.

"And remember," Dad mumbled. "This is good learning experience for when you have a kid." Elizabeth shuddered. Hopefully, that day wouldn't be for many, many, _many_ years to come. Or ever. After putting her coat on, she rushed over just in time to see Mr. and Mrs. Bennet getting ready to hop into their car.

"Oh thank you Elizabeth." Mrs. Bennet said. "And we're so sorry for springing this on you again."

"No problem Gloria." Elizabeth shrugged it off. "I'm just happy to help. And thanks for helping out my car fund."

"I still think you're going to be doing this for a long time if you want to afford a car." Mr. Bennet joked.

"I'll get one for cheap. Enjoy your dinner!"

"We will." They shouted as they backed out of the driveway. She stood there, watching them drive away until she couldn't see them. Then, she entered the house in time to catch Sophie before she smacked into her.

"Off." She groaned. "You're getting to be a big girl now."

"I know." Sophie replied, giggling as Liz carried her back inside, shutting the door with a kick. "Do you think Santa will be helping Mr. Bunny again this year?"

"Well, Santa is probably busy in his workshop, making toys for all the good boys and girls." She answered, plopping the young girl on the couch. "But you know, my brother saw the Easter Bunny today. He said he was putting eggs out all day."

"He probably doesn't want a repeat of last year." Jamie said as he came down the stairs. "After all, if children don't believe in him, he can't bring joy and hope to kids."

"Well now. We can't have that. But I bet you've never seen him."

"I have. He's really tall and cool, with a load of belts on, and a pair of boomerangs."

"Boomerangs? What is he, Australian?"

"Yep. He has the accent and everything. I also saw Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, Sandman and Jack Frost." Here we go. He loved telling her about them. She almost hated to see the day where he realised they weren't real. "Santa Claus is really big. But not fat-big, more like giant-big. And he swings around these two large swords and fights on a jet-sleigh. And the tooth fairy, looks like a humming-bird lady."

"She's scary." Sophie chimed in. "She showed me baby teeth with blood on them."

"Uh huh." Elizabeth nodded. "That is scary."

"And Sandman really short. But he kicked the Boogeyman's butt like, Whaa! Chaa! Hoo, haa! And Wham Bam! It was so awesome."

"What about Jack Frost? What does he look like?"

"He looks… Well, normal. I think he's about your age, with white hair. He wears a blue sweatshirt, and waves around a staff. And he doesn't need shoes. He just walks around normally. You'd probably like him, Liz."

Not in a million years, kid.

**/~-~\**

Liz groaned as she headed back to her own house. She kept trying to hide it, but she was bone tired after all the work today. She was just glad she didn't have to help Dad all day like usual. She laughed as she saw the sign on the door, asking the Easter Bunny if he could please find a way to have an Easter Hunt in the house. She stepped inside quietly, so as to not disturb anyone. It was really late now. She winced whenever the floor creaked under her socked feet. She nearly made it to her room when she heard Mum complaining.

"…Oh Fergus." She moaned. "How could you have forgotten?"

"I-I didn't." Dad replied. "It was right here, I'm sure of it. I got them out weeks ago."

Mum sighed. "He had his heart set on this. It was what he wanted so much."

"I'm sorry, honey. I'll rush to the store first thing tomorrow, see if they have any more eggs on sale." She had heard enough. She'll go with Dad tomorrow morning. Getting those eggs is the most important thing in the world right now. She slinked her way off to her room, but Matt was waiting for her.

"Hey Liz." He said. She sighed, before getting a smile on her face before turning around.

"Hey, squirt. You're supposed to be asleep."

"I'm too excited. I can't wait for tomorrow. An Easter Hunt sound really, really fun." Part of her soul died as she saw how excited he was. It was going to tear him apart when the eggs weren't there.

"They are really fun. But you know, the Easter Bunny can't do his job if you're still awake. So go to sleep, munchkin. I promise you they'll be waiting for you in the morning."

"Promise?"

"Promise." She crossed her heart as she said that. It made him smile, before closing his eyes and snoring away. He looked so fragile in his bed.

As she walked down to her comfy bed, she seriously considered robbing some other house of their eggs. Matt needs them far more than anyone else.

**/~-~\**

She smiled as she had a wonderful dream. In it, she had gotten Matt an entire carload of Easter Eggs, and Mum and Dad let her keep the car. She was just dreaming of heading down to the sea, when she was nearly blinded by a flash of light in her dream. She groaned as she was forced awake, the sun peeking through a gap in her curtains. It took some time before a thought made it through all the sleepy dust.

"Shit!" She swore. It was morning. Dad might've already gone into town to check at the local stores. As she rushed out into the hallway, she saw that Matt's bed was empty. Shit, shit! He was already up. She promised that he'd have a hunt, and now he was going to be heartbroken. But when she got down to the living room, she stopped in surprise.

Matt held a small basket filled with Easter eggs. At this moment, he was walking out of the kitchen, another egg in his tiny hands. Behind her, she heard Mum and Dad walking down the stairs, and also stop in surprise.

"Mummy, mummy!" Matt yelled as he hoped over to them. "Look, look! The Easter Bunny came last night. He _did_ notice the sign! This is the greatest Easter ever!"

"Fergus?" Mum asked. Elizabeth turned around to see him shake his head. They both looked at her, and she just shrugged.

If none of them had gotten the eggs, then who did?

**/~-~\**

Elizabeth yawned as she walked down the street. Jumping out of bed like that had left her feeling more tired than when she got in. But her mind was still whirling and trying to think over the hunt this morning.

Mum and Dad hadn't done it. They were both surprised, and Dad was too scatter-brained to have planned a surprise like that on his own. And unless she slept-walked, there was no way she could've done it. But that would mean that someone, somehow, managed to pick the lock on the door, sneak around the house, hide all those eggs, and then lock the door after themselves all without waking up anyone. The only thing that she found was a single flower in the kitchen floor. How did that get there?

Her phone rang suddenly, surprising her with the noise. She fumbled for a bit before seeing who it was. Great. It was Hubert, her ex-boyfriend. He just couldn't accept that she didn't like him. She hung up on him immediately, not wanting to endure another minute of his disgusting talk. He made it very clear he cared only about her looks. Well, she'll just find someone else. Someone that loved her for herself. She hummed as she crossed the street, thinking about what kind of guy that would be. So she didn't hear the car until it was too late.

She turned just in time to see a brown car zooming towards her, its silver bumper glaring at her. She didn't have enough time to react, getting smashed in the legs by it. Her body ached so much as she slammed against the hood, but her legs were surprisingly numb. She felt her body go flying, soaring above the town as the world spun. All the sounds grew faint, and the sky turned dark as she headed back for the ground. Her head made a loud crack as it slammed against the ground, and she could feel some wet liquid trickling beneath her. She tried to breathe, tried to stand, tried to do anything. But her body just wouldn't listen to her. She could barely see everyone rushing over to her in slow motion, her world growing dark and blurry.

And then it all went black.

**Don't worry. It wouldn't be much of a story if the heroine died in the first chapter. We'll see her again very soon.**

**Now with Matt, I wanted to give him something life-threatening, but plausible, so that Elizabeth would have someone to worry about. Those of you who figure out what's going on might see the plot coming a mile away. But, I still find this enjoyable.**

**See you with in the next couple of weeks.**


	2. A Touch of Death

**Well, here's chapter two. I hope that everyone has enjoyed it so far. Don't worry, we'll finally meet the Guardians in this chapter, as well as show a few mystical things.**

**Enjoy.**

Chapter 2: A Touch of Death

"_To himself everyone is immortal; he may know that he is going to die, but he can never know that he is dead." ~Samuel Butler_

Elizabeth groaned as she woke up. Her whole body tingled, like it had been hit with pins-and-needles. It took a few tries before she could stand up, and her eyes refused to open. Finally, she managed to get them to flutter, showing her a very strange sight.

Everything was frozen. Not like with ice, but as if someone had hit pause on a video. They were all running towards her, mouth's open in screams and horror. Farther behind them, cars had been placed haphazardly, like something had made a line through them. She turned around, only to see more cars and more people. Everything had a sepia tone to it. It made her think of those old noir films Mum liked so much. Finally, as if dreading it, she looked down.

It was her. Exactly as she remembered. Her long black hair was splayed out, and her pale face was peaceful. Like she was napping. As she looked lower, she saw that her chest looked somewhat flatter. She knew she wasn't the 'biggest' girl in school, but she wasn't exactly a plank either. Her long legs were sticking out in random directions, and in ways she was certain weren't possible.

What really scared her though, were the red patches on her. They were the only thing with colour.

She turned around again, desperate for something to happen, when she nearly walked into someone. He was a tall man, with pale skin and no hair. He was dressed in a black suit, with a long billowing jacket on top. In one hand, he held onto a cane with a silver topper, while in the other he held onto a book. Strangely, his eyes were nearly pitch-black. But what she most noticed was that they were moving.

"Hey." She said after a while. "What kind of dream is this?" He didn't say anything. He just kept reading his book. "Hello. I was kinda expecting something cool. Like a car, or a trip around the world?" Still he did nothing. "Ok, as dream people go, you're really bad."

Finally, he smirked. "A dream. Sure. Go with that if it makes you feel better, Ms. Elizabeth Murphy Wittershine."

"How do you know my name?" She never met this guy before.

"You're seventeen-years-old, daughter to Theresa Olivia Wittershine and Fergus Doofenshier Wittershine. You weigh 64.8 kg, have a height of 5 feet 4 inches, your measurements are 34, 23, 35, and you have a birthmark on your back in the shape of an M. Your favourite colours are yellow and green, your favourite food is chicken, and you get take-outs as often as you can." This was getting creepy. Almost no one knew about the birthmark. And he listed her sizes. Who was this guy? "Your hobbies include horseback riding, kendo, and taking pictures of new places you go to. Your goal is to obtain a job that will allow you to get your family the best care they can, and then explore the world. You have a younger brother by the name of Matthew Arnold Wittershine, who suffers from Asthma and HIV. And you are willing to do anything to make him happy." When he closed his book, it sounded almost… final. Finally, he looked at her directly, and his eyes were cold. As though he'd kill her, and it would be as difficult as going to the supermarket for some eggs. She shivered. "Yes. You've noticed. I'm too old, and too jaded for this job anymore. It's time to give it to someone of the new generation." He threw his cane at her, and she grabbed it like she had been expecting it.

"Wait. I don't understand. What kind of creepy dream is this?"

"A dream? What made you think this was a dream?"

"You said it was."

"No. I said think of it as a dream, if it made you feel better." He looked up at the full moon, before walking away from her. As he went, his clothes became a faded brown, and his shadow stretched outwards. A green horse passed him by, flickering as it went. "I'd wish you good luck," He said as the world started blurring. "But I doubt you'd appreciate it."

Then everything went black again.

**/~-~\**

She started coughing as she woke up, and then everyone was upon her. They were all shouting things she couldn't understand, and their voices all jumbled together. She tried to get up, but several people pushed her back down. Gently, but firmly. She could hear sirens in the distance, getting louder and louder until an ambulance pulled into the street. They stopped not far from her, and the ambulance people ran over.

"Everyone, clear some space!" One of them shouted, making a path for a gurney to get in. He kneeled down beside her, checking her pulse. "Oh thank god. Miss, are you in any pain?"

"Me?" She asked, bewildered. "No. I'm not in pain." She hissed as he shone a flashlight into one of her eyes.

"Can you feel or move your limbs?"

"Yeah, I can move." And to prove it, she tried to get up. But when she stood upright, the other ambulance man grabbed her by the arm and gently led her to the gurney. "What happened? What's going on?"

"Miss, according to the emergency calls, you were struck head-on by a speeding car." The gurney man said helpfully as he helped her onto the gurney and strapped her down. "We need to take you to the hospital for a check-up."

Struck by a car. Now she remembered. It crashed into her legs, and sent her flying high into the air. She started panicking. "Oh god! I got hit by a car! How the hell am I still alive?"

"I don't know, but you can thank your lucky stars. That was a miracle." And having said that, he pushed the gurney into the ambulance, made sure it was secured, then closed the back doors and banged on the wall. As the ambulance drove off, she finally noticed that she was now holding something.

A long black cane, with a silver top.

**/~-~\**

The doctors were confused. They didn't know what was going on with her. The blood on her clothes proved that she had been hit, along with all the eye-witnesses. But when they examined her and did x-rays, there wasn't a single bit of damage. It was like she had never been hit at all. And no one seemed to notice the cane in her hand. She had thrown it out the window the first chance she got, but when she looked down at her hand, it had reappeared. So the second time she made sure to watch her hand as she threw, to confirm that she had let go. But when she turned around it was waiting on the bed for her. She then threw it in the garbage, but it was leaning against the bed like it had always been there. What the hell was going on? How had she gotten something from a dream? It was a dream. It wasn't real.

Right?

One other thing she noticed was that anything she wore turned black and foreboding. Her hospital gown looked more like funeral clothes, like they were picking out her coffin already. When she took it off, it would go back to being pale green. But as soon as she wore it again, it changed black like it was in shadows. She shivered. There was something weird going on.

Her parents were at her side almost as soon as she got out of x-ray. They were sobbing so hard, worried that they had lost their eldest. Dad was threatening to sue the ass off the 'crazy driver'. It scared her. Dad was always mellow. He never raised his voice in all the years she had known him. But now he was nearly raving in anger.

They let her out after a day, just to make sure she really was alright. She was glad. Something about the hospital felt… wrong. When she walked down the hallway, she could feel…things. The room next to her had suffered from an epidemic some time ago, and all seven patients inside died at the same time. The nurse's office had someone die in it, as a crazy ex smashed her head in. Even the bed she had to stay in was tainted. An old man slept peacefully until his heart gave out during the night. She shivered. How did she know all this? Before, she wouldn't have been able to tell you anything except it was a hospital. But now, she knew too much. It scared her.

"I'm just so glad you're alright." Mum said as they drove away. They didn't question why her formerly green clothes were now black. They just seemed to accept it, as if they had always been gothic. "We were so worried when we heard you were struck by a car. But now you're safe, we can breathe easily."

"You just rest, honey." Dad said. "Take as much time as you need to feel better. We don't want you to hurt yourself." He slapped himself in the head. "Damn. I just remembered I needed to pick up some stuff at the store."

"Oh Fergus." Mum groaned, but she turned down the street to Dad's store. Once they got there, he practically _leaped_ out of the car. Elizabeth hopped out too, in case Dad needed any reminding. She waved at her mum, who was busy watching for any more rogue cars, and was surprised by a tingly feeling. It could only be described as if she went through a sheet of fine water, but it also went right through her body. And the door was right behind her now. The _closed_ door. Weird. As she pondered that, she noticed that all the animals were starting to get restless. Most of them were curling up, trying to get smaller like if there was a predator in the room. But the cats were hissing like crazy. And the crows that Dad could just never seem to get rid of were unnervingly staring at her.

"Dad?" She called out. "Have you fed the animals yet?" He didn't say anything. He was instead humming as he grabbed his stuff. "Dad?" She walked closer to the back. Strange. He always could hear her over a busy shop. Was he in his own dream world? She rounded the corner until she was standing behind him. "Dad, I don't think you've fed the animals." Still he ignored her. What was going on? "Hey." She shouted, grabbing him by the shoulder.

He nearly jumped to the roof at her touch, throwing the box up into the air and making it rain batteries. She squealed in surprise at his reaction, the batteries somehow missing her by inches. "Oh, Liz." He sighed in relief. "You almost gave me a heart attack. You shouldn't sneak up on me like that."

"But I called out to you." She was getting freaked out. "I shouted several times."

"You did? Well, I didn't hear anything."

"But… I did."

He smiled at her, and gave her a hug. "I guess my mind was elsewhere. Whelp, we better get back to the car. Your mother is going to kill me if I keep her waiting." While he stomped his way back through the open door, Liz kept a close eye on the pets. They were still behaving oddly. But this time she noticed that they were all watching her.

Creepy.

**/~-~\**

"Well, we're home." Dad said cheerfully as he opened the door for her. "And guess what's for dinner? Chicken! Your favourite." Elizabeth smiled at him, hiding how nervous she suddenly felt. That weird dream guy knew she liked chicken too. How did he know? He listed everything off like parts of a car. Made it so impersonal. It creeped her out.

Her phone started beeping. It must've been her friends, checking up on her. She smiled. She had missed them so much. But it wasn't from any of her friends. It wasn't even from Hubert. Instead, it was from someone called Drew Haggard, from… Ireland? She tapped on it, and it started showing weird details. Date of birth. Location, down to the exact detail. And date of death and… cause of death? Stabbing? This was getting creepier and creepier. She looked at another text, from a Georgia Sutherland. Exactly the same thing. Location, date of birth and death, cause of death. What was going on?

"How are your friends, dear?" Mum asked her. She squeaked and ended up juggling her phone for a few seconds.

"Oh, they're great." She lied, a big, nervous grin on her face. "Just great. Wishing me luck in getting better and all that." She heard her phone beep again as more text messages showed up. "I…should probably go and rest for a bit." Mum nodded as she took little steps up the stairs, before rushing to her room. She took deep breaths to stave off the panic attack, before she looked at her phone again. Dozens of messages, all from Pakistan. How in the hell did Pakistan have her number? How did _any_ of these people have her number? She switched her phone to silent, before tossing into a drawer at her desk. She nearly started crying. She was so scared. What was going on? What was going on?! Small details sprung out at her. A man that looked skeletal, who showed up just after she got hit by a car. A black cane that she couldn't get rid of. Animals that hated her, and doors she could walk through without opening. She heard a cracking sound, and look down to see that frost was forming from her fingertips. She stumbled away from the desk, and looked down at her hands. They were thinner, almost skeletal. She thought she could see her bones. But all that would mean…

No. No. It was crazy. There is no magic, no people going around doing these things. There wasn't a Santa Claus bringing presents; there was no bunny bringing eggs; no man with sand giving you dreams; or-or a fairy taking your teeth. There was no boy going around making winter.

And there was no guy in a cloak taking lives.

"Beth?" She heard Matt open her door. "Are you ok?"

She hid her hands in her pockets, and gave him a smile. "Yeah. I'm fine."

"Then why are you crying?" She wiped away her tears, too late to hide them. "Mum and Dad were crying too last night. And you weren't home. Did you guys get in a fight?"

"No, we didn't get in a fight. I had an…accident. A car hit me. Mum and Dad were just worried I wasn't going to make it."

"But, who would read me bed-time stories in silly voices? Who would help me reach the treats on the top shelves?"

"Don't worry. I'm still here. I'll always be here." She pulled him into a hug, now more conscious of how fragile he was.

"I had a dream about you last night."

"Really?"

"Yeah. You had a big black cloak on, and you were riding a green horse while carrying a big blade." Her heart froze over at those words. What? "But you seemed so kind, so nice and gentle. Not like the other guy."

"What did the other guy look like?" Was it Mr Dream-guy?

"He had a cloak and blade too, but he was riding a mean-old dragon. And he looked really scary, laughing at you. And-and there was a big army of green people behind him, like a wave. You were standing in front of the town, with everyone hiding behind your cloak. But I knew you would win."

"And did I?"

"I don't know. I woke up before the wave hit us." They were interrupted by Mum shouting for them.

"You'd better get downstairs." She told him. "I'll catch up to you in a minute." He started to leave, but he looked back at her. Like he was worried. She kept her smile on, waving at him to keep going. As soon as he left, she started crying. He was too young. He was too young to be talking about Death like that. Why did he see her like that? Why? Why?

Why?

**/~-~\**

Eventually, she came down to dinner. Everyone was quiet; as if afraid a single word would shatter her. She excused herself early, hoping they would be too concerned to stop her. She got up to her room without any complaint, and hid under the covers, sobbing. Part of it might've been the fact that she had nearly been killed by a car, and was just getting off the adrenaline. But she knew what the real reason was. She knew what all the signs meant, what they signified. She knew who she had met, and what her job was.

She was… She was…

"Snap out of it." She hissed at herself, slapping her face until her cheeks ached. "There is no such thing. He is not real. There is no such job. And I am not… I am not…" She sighed. She had to keep her head together. If her parents thought she was breaking down because of the accident, they'll never let her out of their sight. She had to stay calm and collected. She blinked as a golden light flew past her room.

It was night now. She must've been sobbing for hours. Everyone else was asleep. But yet, golden streams flew around the town. As another flew past, she dipped her fingers into it, revealing that it was made of sand. The loose sand clumped together to show her playing with Matt, back when they were younger and he could've gone to the beach. It was one of the happiest moments of her life. She reached out further to touch another stream, but she over-judged her reach. She started yelling as she fell from her second-story window, closing her eyes and bracing for impact. But the moment never came. She slowly opened one eye, and saw that she was somehow hovering. She pushed off from the ground, taking to the air. As she looked over her shoulders, she saw that she was flying with massive black raven wings. She nearly started laughing as she flapped her wings. Of course. She's dreaming. That'll explain all the weird stuff going on. She whooped as she flew around the place, watching as more golden streams flew into people's windows. She looked in one to see one of Jamie's friends. Cupcake, she was called. Despite her large and gruff exterior, her room was decorated with pictures of unicorns. Even the golden sand had formed a unicorn, galloping over her head as she smiled.

She was distracted as something small and fast flitted past her ear. As she looked past, she spotted it heading for Max Draymer's window. She rushed over there, nearly smacking against the glass as she did. And the little thing was inside, wriggling under his pillow. As she watched, it popped out, carrying… a tooth? It was some kind of tiny hummingbird-thing. It flitted past her again, joining a large swarm of them. Some were carrying more teeth, while others were carrying quarters. The Tooth Fairy? Tooth Fairies? This was some weird dream, alright. As another stream of gold flew past her, she finally caught a glimpse of where it was all coming from. A large golden cloud, with a short golden man on top. He was… conducting the streams around the houses, directing them to children rooms. So did that make him the Sandman? She wasn't too sure. He started speeding up, as if he was late for something, before his cloud turned into an aeroplane made of sand. He flew north, leaving happy children to dream through the night. Elizabeth decided to fly back home, and see what her dream imagined Matt dreamt about. As she looked through the window, she giggled.

He was dreaming about the two of them, fighting a stream of robots. She was using kung-fu moves and magic to blast them like skittles, while he waved around a gun bigger than him. Eventually, they both grabbed hold of the gun as it charged a laser, big enough to blast the giant robot that came for them. That was totally something he'd dream of. She looked past him to see an interesting sight. He had collected a smorgasbord of chocolate eggs, but he had them in two baskets.

One of them was addressed 'To Big Sis Beth'. He must've wanted to give them to her yesterday, before she had been hit with the car. She wasn't too sure what that meant, other than that she felt like chocolate. She sighed as she landed, her wings vanishing. This dream was strange, almost as strange as the first one. As she backed away from the house, she collided with something.

It was a green horse. No, it was _the_ green horse. Now that she could see it better, she noticed it was more a pale-green. Like mint.

She sighed again. "You again? Why are you in my dream again?" The horse pointed its muzzle in the direction Sandman had gone. "I'm supposed to follow The Sandman?" It nodded. "Nope. This is my dream, and I don't have to do anything." It whinnied in a confused tone, before snorting. "Tell your boss that if he's a part of my weird psyche, then he can come and explain this to me." She yelled as the horse charged her from behind, throwing her into its saddle. "Hey! You can't order me around. I made you!" It looked back at her only to roll its eyes at her. "I am not taking any lip from an imaginary green horse. I'll have you know I've trained in horse-riding. You're not going to throw me off pal-AAAHHH!" She ended up screaming as the horse rocketed into the sky. She instinctly grabbed hold of its neck before she fell off. "Wait! I said horse-riding, not horse-flying!" She yelled as it started moving faster.

"Somebody! Help!"

**/~-~\**

_Don't look down. Don't look down. Don't look down._ She kept telling herself.

She opened her eyes.

_AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!_

The horse was… no longer a horse. It was turning into a green mist, with only the body and head staying normal. She clung on tighter, afraid that it was going to fade away and she'd fall to her death because her wings wouldn't work anymore. "I'm sorry!" She screamed at the top of her voice. "I'm sorry I insulted you! I didn't mean any of it! So please, put me down on solid ground! RIGHT NOW!" The horse didn't pay any attention to her, instead throwing off a few loop-de-loops. She was pretty sure she was going to scream herself awake, but unfortunately that didn't happen.

Why did this have to happen to her?

**/~-~\**

Jack Frost laughed as he prepared his pile of snowballs for the game. He and the others were all ready. All they were waiting for was Sandy the Sandman. Over by the far wall, somehow painting his snowballs, was The Easter Bunny. Everyone called him Bunnymund. He was as tall as any man, with belts and bracers everywhere. And for some inexplicable reason, boomerangs and an Australian accent. Jack used to tease him by calling him a kangaroo. High on the roof with her little pile was Toothiana, The Tooth Fairy. She was certainly an odd-looking fairy, covered in feathers and with hummingbird wings instead. She had come back from a fun-filled night in Shanghai of… collecting teeth. Admittedly, it had been fun when they all competed during it last year, but he couldn't understand the fun in the teeth themselves. She was busy flitting around, as usual. It made her easy pickings, assuming anyone could hit her in the first place. Finally, hidden behind a massive snow fort and howling with maniacal laughter, was the big guy himself. Santa Claus. Sure, he was big, jolly and wore red. But he was big because of muscle, and he seemed his jolliest during a fight. Part of Jack thought his coat was red because of all the people he had beaten. But he never said that to his face.

And then there was him. Jack Frost, the newest member of the Guardians. Once he merely spread the cold around and made people have fun. But now, he was also responsible for safeguarding all the children of the world against nightmares and monsters that wanted to hurt them. His first – and so far, only – case had been against the Boogeyman, Pitch Black. They had nearly failed too, partly because of him. But with the aid of a kid called Jamie, they got the whole world to believe in them again, and sent Pitch back under the bed again. They had all learnt a lot from that adventure, and he finally had a job that meant something.

"Ah, Sandy!" Santa shouted in his booming Russian accent, as the little golden man flew in on his plane. "We thought you not make it." Sandy made a little drawing of a clock moving really fast. He never spoke, only making pictures. "Ah of course. Is easy to lose track of time."

"So mate, are we starting or what?" Bunnymund called out, hopping around until he was nailed by a snowball. He got up and glared at Jack.

"_Now_ we're starting." He said, as he threw another snowball. But Bunnymund hopped away from it, throwing an underhand towards Santa. The big guy laughed as it smashed harmlessly against his fort, but he didn't notice Toothiana hovering overhead. Not until she pelted him from on high. He spluttered and swore in Russian, before throwing some of his at her. She flitted here and there, her wings making it almost difficult to guess where she was going to be. But as she was busy with Santa, Sandy got her from behind, along with Jack. While the two of them laughed, Santa looked over just in time to get hit by Bunnymund. They all rushed back to their ammo supplies, ready to go for the finale, when the moon's light shone down on the field. Jack groaned. Just when they were getting to the good part.

"The Man in the Moon." Tooth gasped. "This must be important."

"Quick! To workshop!" Santa yelled before kicking the door open. As everyone else raced inside, they all gathered round the circle of the Guardians. Supposedly, this was where The Man in the Moon, or MiM for short, would reveal a new Guardian. He wondered if that was what was happening.

Or it could be another threat to children. He hoped it wasn't.

"So what is it?" Bunnymund asked as he shook off his coat of snow from the game. He didn't notice as several elves shovelled it all up, grumbling as they did so. "Don't leave us hanging, mate." The moonlight grew a shadow in the centre. Everyone gasped as they saw it. Jack figured it must represent Pitch. But it changed. Now it was a long cloak, waving a large stick. A Scythe. And if they looked very closely, the grain he was harvesting looked a lot like children.

"This is very bad." Santa whispered. Sandy looked very upset, a small raincloud forming over his head. The shadow changed again. Now, it was a girl with long hair and a cloak, warding off the first shadow with another scythe. Then the light faded.

"That's it?" Jack asked. "What does that even mean? Who was that guy, anyway?"

"That, was the oldest spirit." Santa replied solemnly. "The First Horror. Death." Wait, Death? "And that girl, is most likely the only thing that can stop whatever plan he has."

"Oh great. Well, if the fate of the world was at stake, couldn't he at least given us directions? I mean, it's not like she's going to just show up in the workshop right now." Once he stopped talking, he finally noticed the screaming that was getting louder. He turned around in the direction it was coming from to see a green smoke heading straight for the open window. As it rushed in, he got a good look at it.

It was a pale-green horse, carrying someone with a black cloak. Seeing it brought back feelings of cold and loneliness, everything he remembered feeling as he drowned centuries ago. Then the horse slammed into him, dropping its passenger right on top of it. Everyone else shouted as the horse vanished behind them. The person groaned as they laid on top of him, whispering something. It took him a bit before he realised what they were saying. "Oh, sweet, sweet ground. I've missed you so much. We are never separating again." The voice was feminine. And, he blushed, so was the soft figure pressing against him. At that point, both of them realised that his hands were stuck against something soft and curvy.

"Hands off, you pervert." The girl shouted before belting him over the head. As he threw her off, she rolled until she smacked against Santa's belly. She looked up to see him smiling at her. Something about his smile must've seemed scary to her, because she just started screaming and backing away from him.

"Quick mate." Bunnymund laughed, startling her some more. "Wish for a day off. Moon knows you could use it."

"Ahh." The girl gasped. "There's a giant rabbit in here."

"It's rude to stare girl." She shrieked.

"It talks!"

"That's not all I can do." And he started singing a wonderful song about a man looking after a young girl, when Sandman rapped him over the head with a giant broom.

"It's…" The girl seemed to have trouble breathing. "It's a… a… It's a talking…talking rabbit!" She screamed and nearly ran into Tooth, who was looking at her with concern. The girl screamed again, shrieking about feathers before coming to a stop in front of the Yetis. Jack had to admit, they certainly looked intimidating. She backed away, speechless, until she tripped over her cane and fell into his arms.

"Hey." He said. "Name's Jack Frost." What's yours?"

This was apparently too much for her. She fainted in his arms, and her hood finally fell off. She was a young lady, barely older than he was. She had long black hair, and she felt a bit fragile in his arms.

"Bit of a greenhorn, ain't she?" Bunnymund said. This was the girl who was going to stop Death?

The world was doomed.

**There we go. Hope you enjoyed it. Make no mistake; this is going to be a bit more adult that the movie was. We will be seeing people dying and stuff.**

**I'll release this every so often, as soon as I finish each chapter.**

**Enjoy.**


	3. All Myths Are True

**Alright. Now we finally learn just who Elizabeth is now. The eagle-eyed members might've already figured it out from the quotes and her actions. And we interact with the Guardians some more.**

Chapter 3: All Myths Are True

"_Life is better than death, I believe, if only because it is less boring, and because it has fresh peaches in it." ~Alice Walker_

Elizabeth mumbled as she burrowed her way deeper into the nice warm bed. Her head still felt groggy as she felt the first tugs of waking-up. Her dream had been so weird. She saw The Sandman and the Tooth Fairy, and then she hopped on some weird flying horse, and then she crashed on top of some guy and talked to a giant bunny and a bird-girl. And the whole place looked like the North Pole, as young kids imagined it would look like. Still, it was just a dream. Mum would probably need some help preparing breakfast. She yawned as she finally got her body to sit up. As she rubbed the sleepy-dust from her eyes, she woke up properly with a jolt. Instead of familiar cream wallpaper, she was in a room with red walls and streamers everywhere. She was sleeping in a king-sized bed with red sheets. Over by the far wall were little blocks of ice shaped like toys.

This wasn't her room. This. Was. Not. Her. Room.

Oh God. That wasn't a dream. She actually travelled on a freaking green flying horse-thing.

She gasped as the door started opening, pulling the covers high overhead. As she peeked over them, she saw a guy in a frosted blue sweatshirt carrying a plate full of cookies. He was muttering something.

"…You'd think the old guy would have something other than cookies and milk. I mean, he could stock his pantry with all the food kids leave out for him, why not have something different?" He looked up, and noticed how she was awake. Crap. "Hey there. How are you feeling? That was a bit of a scare you gave us." She started shuffling her hand along the bed, looking for anything to defend herself with. This kidnapper wasn't going to find her easy prey. "So, um. I brought you breakfast. You're probably hungry." He walked closer to her. Yes, closer. Closer. Just a few inches more. "So anyway, we haven't really introduced ourselves. In fact I think you might not have remembered by name. I'm Jack- WHOA!" He yelped as she tried to smash him overhead with her cane. He dodged at the last minute, leaving her to shatter the plate full of cookies. He kept backing away as she jumped out of bed and chased after him. "Hey now! I know you're probably scared and confused, but I'm just trying to help you!" She answered by giving a loud battle cry, until he grabbed a big curved cane and tripped her with it. She yelped as she dropped her cane, and he grabbed her by the arms. "Now will you calm down?!" He stared at her closer. "Wait. I remember you. You were that girl with the trolley from the other day. The one that hanged out with Jamie."

"Who are you?" Elizabeth growled. "Where am I? And why did you kidnap me?"

"Kidnap? No one kidnapped you! You came racing in her on a green horse."

"Oh please. What do you think I am, eight? Everyone knows there's no such thing as magic."

"Well, everyone's wrong." He ignored her struggles to get free. "Look, how about this? You stop trying to hit me, I'll introduce you to my friends, we figure out why the Man in the Moon showed us you, and then we can get you home. Deal?" She sighed as she stopped struggling. She didn't like this. Mum and Dad were probably sick with worry right now. And she still didn't know what this guy and his 'friends' wanted. But she figured she wasn't going to get out by panicking. Best to just play along, until she can bust some heads. Once she had nodded, the kid let go of her hands, and used his staff to scoop up her cane. He led her to the door; careful to keep her in sight at all times, and opened it to show the most amazing sight.

It was clearly meant to be Santa's Workshop. A massive structure made of red-and-white wood, with toys everywhere. There were little elves and large…yetis running around the place, moving sacksful of toys onto conveyer belts. And in the very centre of the room was a giant globe, with lights all over the countries. Standing not far from it was all the strange people she thought she dreamt about. So much for that idea. The largest one in the red jacket noticed them, and waved. "Ah, good. You awake now." He said in his deep Russian voice. "We were so worried when you fainted. Never happened before."

"Are we sure this is the right girl, mate?" The… The rabbit asked as he hopped over to them. "I mean, she doesn't seem to be Guardian material."

"You…" She stammered. "You're a… You're a…"

The rabbit sighed. "Yes, we went over this already. I'm a talking bunny. In fact, I'm the Easter bunny. Call me Bunnymund."

"And that's Toothiana." The kid said as the bird-girl flew over to her face. Now that she was closer, Elizabeth realised that she looked more like a hummingbird than anything else. "But we just call her Tooth."

"Oh, how wonderful." Toothiana squealed as she forced open Elizabeth's mouth. "Good, shiny teeth. Show signs of regular flossing, and… Ooh! You use whitener on it!"

"Tooth." The Russian said sternly. "Finger out of mouth. We have been over this." Tooth looked at him before flying away. She gave a small sheepish grin.

"This isn't happening." Elizabeth said to herself. "I'm obviously still stuck in my weird dream. Or I'm currently sitting in an asylum, cackling to myself all day and drooling everywhere." She yelped in pain as someone slapped her upside the head. She turned to glare at that 'someone', who turned out to be Jack. He gave her a little smirk.

"Over here, we have Sandy the Sandman." Jack continued saying, pointing to a little man made of golden sand. She recognised him. He was the guy sitting on the cloud from her dream. Or was it a dream? "Say hello."

"Uh… Hi." She said. Sandy smiled at her, and little sand clouds formed in the shape of a smiley-face, and a pair of hands shaking. Guess he didn't talk that much.

"And this big guy is Santa Claus." Jack pointed out Mr. Russian, who had gone over to give orders to the yetis.

"I thought the elves made the toys." She said, watching as a yeti nearly panicked as Santa came by, only to sigh in relief as he said something. Looking closely, she saw a few elves playing with a toy, and then get sent flying into the distance as it went haywire.

"I think they just test the toys for Santa. It's the Yetis that do all the work. Oh, and I'm Jack Frost. Now then. Who are you?" Everyone regrouped once he said that, making it very obvious they were interested too. She started wilting under their gaze.

"Me? Well. Um… I'm… I'm Elizabeth Wittershine. And I'm a perfectly normal girl."

"You can't be that bloody normal, mate." Bunnymund said. "Or else why would Manny choose you for a Guardian."

"Manny? Who's Manny?"

"The Man in the Moon." Toothiana replied helpfully. "He chooses all the Guardians and spirits. He showed us how we'll need you to fight a dangerous threat to the children."

"Me?" They had to be mistaken. "I can't fight."

"Coulda fooled me." Jack muttered. "Oh by the way Santa, you might want some elves to clean up your room. Things got a bit battered."

"Shostakovich." Santa cursed, before yelling at the elves in Russian. Or maybe it was some weird North Pole Language. Was she even at the North Pole? No, don't go there. Don't encourage the delusions.

"Also, there's something weird about her cane." Jack said, hissing as he grabbed it. "Damn thing's cold. Cold even for me." Everyone looked at the cane. It seemed perfectly normal. Well, apart from the fact it keeps appearing by her side. "What do you suppose it is?"

Santa looked at it for a bit before seemingly having an idea. He grabbed it, juggled it because of the cold, and threw it at her. Her hand instantly reached out and grabbed it out of the air. "Now, child. Focus on cane. Command it to take its true form." She just looked at him with a sceptical look. But Santa waved his hand in a 'go on' way. She sighed. How do you command a cane?

"Uh, hey cane…thingy." She started saying. "I… uh. Command you to… uh… Take your true form." She yelped as it suddenly grew, shadowy things writhing up and down it. She tried to let go, but her hand stopped working. The cane grew until it was as tall as Santa, while the silver head became liquidly like mercury. It grew tall and thin, with both ends turning spiky. One side stopped after a short distance, while the other kept growing, and growing, and _growing_ until it became a blade. In only a few moments, she stopped holding onto a cane, and now held a scythe.

"Moi deti." Santa whispered. Everyone else just looked at her in fear and alarm.

"Wh-What's going on?" She asked, frightened out of her mind. "What does this mean? What am I?!"

"The Ferryman. Guardian of the Underworld. Collector of Souls. You," He pointed at her with one large finger. "Are the Grim Reaper. Death itself."

Death. She was Death. Everything had already been pointing to it, but she didn't want to believe. She _wouldn't_ believe. All she saw was Matt, quiet and still, his skin a pallid grey. And standing over him, scythe in hand, was her.

It was all too much. The world turned black as she fainted away again.

**/~-~\**

Jack was getting a feeling of déjà vu, since once again he was entering Santa's bedroom to check up on the new girl. He definitely didn't faint when _he_ became a Guardian. Then again, he hadn't been kidnapped by anyone until 300 years later. She's only had a few days, if he remembered correctly. And she obviously didn't realise she wasn't human anymore if she thought magic was made-up. What really worried him was her job. The Man in the Moon told them they were to stop Death. But apparently, she was Death. So how can there be two Deaths running around at the same time? It just didn't make sense.

"No." He heard Elizabeth say through the door. "No, no, no, no, no. No, it can't be. I-I-It can't be true. I'm not…I'm not…" Jack decided this was a good time to step in. Well, the other Guardians decided for him. He gave them all a look as they closed the door after him. He took a deep breath, and turned to face Elizabeth. She was looking at him in wide-eyed horror.

"Hey." He said.

"You!" She growled. Shadows billowed out of her clothes, grabbing hold of sculptures and over loose items. Jack yelled and dodged as she threw them all at him. "This is your fault!"

"What? No, no. Calm down. Just let me explain." He said all this as he continued to evade her fire, wincing when something made a particularly heavy clunk against the wall. "Look, we had nothing to do with this. If you just calm down, we could…" But she wasn't listening. She rushed out of the bed, fingers and face now skeletal. Jack yelled as he pulled the door open and slammed it shut in her face. He sighed as he leaned against it, until he thought he heard a 'schwing' sound.

"Duck!" Santa yelled. Everyone hit the floor as another 'schwing' echoed through the air. As they all got back up, there didn't seem to be anything wrong with the door. Until small decorations started falling in pieces, and the top half of the door opened on its own. Elizabeth was glaring at them, her skull blazing with green fire and her scythe in her hand. She seemed to finally notice what had happened to her, and started panting with fear. Skin started forming over her face and fingers again, showing her with an expression of pure anguish.

"Why?" She gasped, sinking to the ground and crying. "Why me? Why did it have to be…? It can't be true. It can't be!" it looked like she was still in denial. Jack would've been ok with that, except they needed her to help them, apparently. And they can't do that if she still thinks she's normal. Santa looked at her with empathy.

"Come little one." He said, pulling Jack closer to her. "Let me prove it." He then took her hand, and made her hold his. She gasped at his touch, eyes flickering as she watched something.

"You… you were human." She said in awe. "You lived 300 years ago, in Burgess. You went out skating with your sister over by the far pond. She got trapped on some weak ice, but you calmed her down. You traded places with her… and you drowned." She looked at him in sorrow, before letting go and running off. Santa sighed in exasperation, while the others just looked on in fear and confusion. Well, someone had to follow her, make sure she wasn't getting into trouble.

Might as well be him.

**/~-~\**

It didn't take long to find her, actually. She had somehow gotten onto the tallest roof of the Workshop, watching as the northern lights flickered in the sky. He sat down beside her, not saying a word. He never knew he was human until recently. God knows how it must feel to wake up and be dead. He gave her time, hoping she would talk.

"I have a brother." She said after a long while. Jack had nearly nodded off while waiting. "He's only 10, and he's the cutest brother ever. But he's sick. Severe asthma and HIV."

"Right." Jack replied. "Let's assume for a moment that I haven't been following the latest medical journals."

"It means he catches bugs and cold easier than other people, and if he doesn't have his medication he could suffocate. The doctors don't think he has much longer. Hell, they're surprised he's lasted this long."

Jack realised what was bothering her so much. Why she kept denying the truth. "And now you've found out that _you're_ the one that's going to have to take his life." She sniffled a bit, but nodded. That must be really horrible. To know that someday the Reaper would come for your family, only to learn it's going to have to be you. "Well look. These guys have been around for ages. They've got to know more about your powers and stuff. And let's face it, you can't exactly go home again."

"Watch me." She said as she stood up, striding imposingly back into the workshop. Then she stopped for a beat. "Uh, have you seen my horse?"

Jack started laughing. "C'mon. You're not going anywhere until you've ridden on Santa's sleigh.

**/~-~\**

Elizabeth stepped back a bit as the reindeer came out of their stable. Despite the stories Mom used to tell them, _these_ reindeer did not look jolly or nice. They were big, and stroppy, and had really sharp-looking antlers. Forget making fun of Rudolph. She was pretty sure they _ate_ him.

"Uh, did anything happen to Rudolph?" She asked Santa. He just laughed at her.

"Rudolph is having nice lie-in. I mainly have him for when sky is foggy." He picked her up by her jacket, ignoring her squawk of alarm, and dropped her right at the back. She started when she spotted Jack on her other side, and gave him a glare. It made her feel a bit better that Bunnymund also had to be dragged in by Santa.

"Oh God no. Not again." Bunnymund said as he scrambled in his seat. She had a quick peek over the edge to see the sleigh better, before they started moving. It was huge, with massive runners and two wings at the side. It was sort of like the lovechild of a normal sleigh and a jet. Then she got hurtled back into her seat as the sleigh started moving. She held on for dear life as they went careening in all directions, everyone else whooping and cheering. Only her and Bunnymund were just holding on for dear life. Wait. If she was Death, could she die? She wasn't too sure, but she wasn't in the mood to test it. Finally, after many harrowing turns, they went flying off a ramp into the air. Now that they weren't about to crash, she could finally enjoy the view from up here. She looked back to see a large village set up in the mountain. Far below her was the ground, looking kind of pretty from this height. Next to her, jack was laughing as he started hanging onto the edge of the sleigh. She couldn't help but smile. She was actually in Santa's Sleigh. Jamie was going to be so jealous when he found out about this. But then she'd have to explain why she was at Santa's Workshop, and there was no way she was telling anyone else about this. With luck, the Man in the Moon will find somebody else to take over, and she could go back to being normal. She watched in amazement as Santa pulled out a snow globe, whispered something to it, and threw it ahead of them. It turned into a portal, showing for a moment Burgess. This must be how Santa delivers all those toys in one night. Unbelievable. Then they were through it, and Burgess was laid out beneath her like a map. She watched as several hummingbird fairies fluttered away, probably with teeth. Soon they were over her house. Don't ask her how they knew it.

"Do you need any help getting down?" jack asked her. She just smirked at him and slapped him with a wing. As he spat feathers out, she used them to fly down to her window. She sat on the ledge, watching as they flew away and used another portal. She shook her head as all the crazy things she's done recently came back to her. This was insane. As she pulled herself through, she tripped over something in her way. She yelled in pain, cursing while rubbing her shin. Then she had a look at what it was.

It was her desk. Somehow, it had moved from the wall to the other side of her room. That was impossible. But as she watched, it started shaking, moving closer to her as it did.

"Liz?" She heard mom call out as she got closer. Swearing, she pushed the desk away from the window, before nearly running into bed. By the time mom opened the door, her wings were safely hidden under the sheets. Though they left a noticeable bulge.

"Uh… Morning Mom." She said, trying to go with a sleepy tone. She mustn't have been that good, because Mom still looked at her weird.

"I thought I heard noises from your room. What were you doing in here?"

"Me? Nothing." She felt her sheet start rising. Crap her wings must be unfolding. Stupid things. "I don't remember any noises." Mom looked around a bit more, before noticing the desk.

"Wasn't that against the wall before?"

"You mean it isn't? It's kinda hard to tell from here. In bed. Where I've been all night." Her wings started fluttering, stirring up the bed. Suddenly she had an idea. "Maybe, I had a nightmare."

That worked. Mom stopped looking so stern, and moved in to rub her head. "Oh sweetie, I know it must be so scary. But don't you worry. The police will find whoever did it, and he'll be tried by the court of law." And having said that, she left her room, closing the door behind her. Elizabeth sighed, then bristled in shock as her covers were thrown off by her wings. Grumbling, she sat up and_ finally_ had them fold up into her back. She wasn't too sure where they went, but at least they weren't bothering her anymore. She rushed over to her desk, shoving it again as it started moving. She pulled open the drawer, and found her phone shaking like crazy. As she pulled it out, she noticed she had a lot of messages. She thought to have a look at them while going downstairs. But as she got to the living room, some news was distracting her.

"…Still have no idea just who was behind the attack." The newsman said. "Their efforts have been mostly focused on making sure everyone is accounted for. The Pakistan Government has their theories on the identity of the terrorist group, but none have taken credit for the attack." She froze after hearing that. She checked her phone, scrolling through as fast as she could. Almost all of them were from Pakistan. She found a search bar at the top and used it to narrow down the list. By the time she was done, she had…

"59 dead." She said at the exact same time as the news reporter. Mom and Dad looked at her, probably wondering how she knew that. She rushed back upstairs just in time to puke down the toilet. Once she was done, she raced to her room and sat against the door.

A list. Some stories said that Death had a list, telling him when someone had died. _That_ was what her phone was. Those weren't text messages.

They were souls.

"Sis?" Matt asked through the door. She nearly had a heart attack. She couldn't touch him. She would _never_ touch him again. That might be all that he needed. Just one push by Death. By her. "Are you ok?"

"I'm…I'm just… I'm just worried about the news." She stuttered. "All those people, dead." God, what if she wouldn't go. They might still live. Maybe they just needed time to find their way back to their bodies.

"I had another nightmare. The scary man was in it. There were all these people standing in a square. Then a fire went through them, and they were crying. They were calling out for someone, but _he_ showed up instead. They kept screaming as he cut at them. And they still kept screaming for the Ferryman. What does that mean?"

She blinked her tears away. She couldn't leave them. Something was going on. "It means… I have to go somewhere. Tell Mom I'm sleeping again."

"Where are you going?"

"To do a job." She replied, watching as her cane turned into a scythe again. She climbed out the window, only to spot the horse from before on the lawn. Strangely, no one noticed it. No one called out to her either. That must be a power she has. Death wouldn't be very good at his or her job if people could see them coming. "Alright horse. You got me to Santa before. Now get me there again." It snorted and rolled its eyes, but it allowed her to climb on. This time, she was ready for it. When the horse took to the air, she didn't shriek. She just held on tightly. Those people needed her help.

She just hoped she wasn't too late.

**I'll admit it. I just picked one of those Middle East Countries for the attack. You hear on the news about all kinds of bombings and attacks over there, that I figured it would be a good place to have her start. I hope I don't offend anyone with this. And we're finally going to learn what this shadowy threat really is.**

**Oh, and the panicking Yeti is the one that kept doing all the painting in the film, only to get told he did the wrong colour.**


	4. Do Fear the Reaper

Chapter 4: Do Fear the Reaper

"_Because I could not stop for Death, He kindly stopped for me. The Carriage held but just ourselves And Immortality" ~Emily Dickinson_

Jack sighed as he sat down on a railing. Great. How were they supposed to find out what their mission was if the girl MiM pointed out to them didn't even want the job? None of them really knew what she was supposed to do. I mean, how many Guardians got involved with Death?

"Well that was a bloody bust." Bunnymund said to no one. "Nothing's happening. But all those lights are still bright." He pointed at the globe at the center of the room. It was lit up with millions, even billions of lights. And each light represented a child that believed in the Guardians. Even as they watched it didn't really change. Maybe MiM was wrong. Maybe he jumped the gun a bit early.

"I need your help." Elizabeth shouted as she rode through the wall on a pale horse. It started trotting round the workhouse, creating little patches of ice where it stepped. "People are dying, and I don't have a clue what to do."

"Oh really?" Bunnymund asked as he hopped closer. "I thought you weren't doing this job. I thought you wanted a normal life." She just glared at him before looking at Santa.

"You knew about my scythe. Do you know who'll help people cross over if I don't do it?"

"Uh, I think… only Death collects. Without Death, they are trapped." Elizabeth stared at Santa for a bit before finally shaking her head.

"Ok. Ok. I guess…I guess I'm doing this. But I'll need some help. I haven't got a clue what I'm doing. I mean, how to I even collect souls?"

"Swing that scythe?" Bunny suggested helpfully.

"Can't be that easy."

"I think you'll find it can." Jack said. "I didn't have a clue what I could do when I first woke up. At least, not until I grabbed my stick." Elizabeth still looked worried.

"It'll be ok." Toothiana said. "With the six of us together, I'm sure we'll get it done."

"And we will be there all way." Santa said, placing a hand on her shoulder. Elizabeth smiled sadly at him for a moment.

"Ok then. Everyone suit up. I guess I'm going to be a murderer."

**/~-~\**

Liz found it a lot easier to fly on her new horse. Did it have a name? How would it tell her if it did? Never mind, that could be asked after she was done with her new job. It wouldn't be that hard. Just go after some people too weak to defend themselves and kill them. How hard could being a monster be?

"You are no murderer." Santa said as they hopped off their rides and walked down the smoky street. "The people you go and help, they already dead. You just free them from pain and suffering."

"But what if they still have a chance?" She asked him. "How would I know? I can't kill someone if they've still got a chance to live." They all stopped walking as they rounded the corner and saw the destruction.

"Mate, I don't think they'd want to live with **that**." Bunnymund said. Fire billowed everywhere as the police and the fire services cleared away rubble. There was a pile of bodies not too far away, thankfully hidden under sheets. It was still chaos. She couldn't do it. She tried to back away, but she felt Santa's hand on her shoulder, gently but firmly stopping her. Sandy, Toothiana and Jack gave her a supporting smile.

"Hood up, little one." Santa said to her, pulling her hood over her head. Her cane changed until it was a scythe again. She saw her reflection in a broken window, and she looked every bit like Death. She shuddered, but now that she was here she could almost hear the screams of people that had been caught in the explosion. As they walked closer to the bodies, their steps knocked away some rubble covering a body. She shrieked as she spotted the burnt, desiccated husk that had been a person until last night. Everyone else blanched as they saw how his skin was nothing more than charcoal. But before they could move away, a green mist started billowing out from the body. It took form, changing into a small, old man in a long robe. He opened his eyes and glared at Elizabeth.

"Finally." He said. "What kind of ferryman are you anyway? I've been waiting her for 12 stinking hours. You're supposed to be here as soon as the explosion ends. It wasn't exactly comfortable being stuck in your own burnt corpse, I'll tell you that much."

"Um…" She stuttered, confused and frightened. This was way too weird. He was actually waiting for her? "I'm… I'm new to this." The old man looked at her closer, trying to peer under the hood.

"Fair enough, I suppose. I'm pretty sure my pappy said that you were supposed to be taller than that. And that you were a guy. Well now hurry up and take my soul."

"Wait, wait. This is going too fast. I mean, don't you want to keep living?"

The old man snorted. "Youngsters. Always thinking they can avoid the Reaper. Look at me, girl. Do that look like something I want to come back to? It was hots as balls in there, and I couldn't even move it. Now hurry and take my soul. I'm pretty sure you just swing that scythe of yours." She hesitated for a bit, before lightly touching the man with the tip of her scythe. His form collapsed and was drawn into the blade and travelling down the handle.

"You see?" Santa said encouragingly. "You do not kill them. You just bring peace to pain." She nodded, before taking a few cautionary steps closer to the other bodies. She watched as more green mist billowed out from underneath, taking on the appearances of men, women and children. Her heart ached when she saw that several were about the same age as Matt, taken before their time. She took deep breaths, steeling herself for what she had to do. They're already dead. They can't live any longer, so you're supposed to take them to a better place. You're not killing them. You're not. You're not.

She took a deep breath, and swung her scythe through the souls.

And missed as they blew away screaming, turning into a green line that spiralled into a shadow. It started cackling as it grew bigger and sprung off the ground. Several people nearby dropped as more mist billowed from them as it passed them. The shadow settled, taking the appearance of a tall billowing cloak. But this guy was far more terrifying than she would be. He was at least twice her height, with skulls forming a belt and chains of bones. The edges of his cloak were spiky, while faces started forming and disappearing around the surface of the cloak. In one armoured hand he held onto a massive scythe decorated with pictures of wailing dead, while a spiked crown peeked out of the cowl of his hood. They all backed away as he got closer, weapons ready.

"So." The cloaked man said in a very deep, ghastly voice. "This is the new Death. The one who will embody the true spirit of dying. Pathetic. And what's this? The Guardians are helping? I don't recall you lot having any authority over the departed."

"Who are you supposed to be?" Jack asked as he pointed his staff at the guy. Cloak merely grabbed the end of it, jagged ice forming on it. Jack managed to pull it away, but his face was full of pain.

"I am the _real_ Death, Jack Frost. I was the first until the Man in the Moon found a pretender to take my place. But no matter. I am free again. And I will have my position back."

"Yea?" Bunnymund replied. "Well you're going to have to go through us, mate." Death laughed a chilling laugh before knocking them all aside with his scythe. The Guardians yelled in pain as it passed through them. Elizabeth was the only one still standing after the blow, the scythe passing through her harmlessly. She turned to help her new allies, but Death grabbed her by the throat. She dangled uselessly as he brought her to his face. She could see now that what had appeared to be a crown was a helmet, like what Sauron had worn in the Lord of the Rings film. She felt her hood fall off, showing him what she looked like.

"Lucky you. Neither in the realm of the Living or the Dead. You are beyond me. For now." He laughed again. "But you're too late. I have already taken my power back. Now all that needs to happen if for the Man to realise this himself, and send you back to your pitiful life." He kept laughing as he dropped her, growing massive inverted black wings and flying away in the form of a cloud. As soon as he left, Elizabeth remembered her injured allies. She rushed over to where they had fallen, sighing in relief when she saw them sitting up and groaning. They all looked around, watching as everyone crowded around the men that had died with Death's passing.

"I think," Elizabeth said, "that we need to regroup."

**/~-~\**

It was with groans and bruises that everyone returned to the workshop, tumbling out of the sleigh as they stopped. They stumbled back to the main room, sighing as they sat down finally.

"What the hell happened back there?" Jack asked. "I mean, Elizabeth's the Grim Reaper and suddenly we've got this creepy dude saying _he's_ Death. What's going on?"

"I do not know." Santa replied as a bunch of elves returned with a large book. "But perhaps we will find out." He started flipping through the pages, looking for something.

"I'm rather curious as to why he hit us with his scythe, but we're all still alive." Toothiana said to the others as she flittered around. Sandy showed pictures of egg-timers and question marks. "You're right Sandy. It must be that because we're immortal, he couldn't kill us. We're still affected by his attacks, but we'll live through them."

"We're immune to him?" Bunnymund asked. "Because no offense mate, but didn't Sandy die fighting against Pitch? That's shows that we bloody well can die from things."

"Unless he needs something else to kill us." Jack said. "Like we're immune to him until we're actually dead. Then he can claim us."

"Thanks for the encouragement, mate." Bunnymund said sarcastically. "That really makes me feel better."

"AH-HAH!" Santa yelled, startling an elf sitting on the armrest. Everyone rushed over to see a picture of Death. The one they just met, not Elizabeth. "Here we go. It is just like Death said. He was the first, until Manny found someone else to be Death. With his souls belonging to another, Death grew weak until Manny could seal him away. We can do same."

"But that still doesn't explain how he came back in the first place." Bunnymund replied. "How the bloody hell are we going to keep him down if we don't know how he came back?"

"I do not know. But I do know this. Elizabeth. You can no longer be cautious. Every soul you leave waiting is another to his power. You must claim them before him, or he will grow too strong. And he clearly means ill will to the living."

"But I don't even know what that _means_!" Elizabeth whined, exasperated. She didn't want any of this. She didn't want to go to scenes of dying and death. And she didn't want some ancient evil thing chasing after her.

"It means, it is time to train."

**/~-~\**

"Ok then." Jack said as they stood outside in the snow. As they both had powers of coldness, everyone decided that Jack should do this part of training. "Let's start off with some simple flying. It's really easy, really cool, and really useful." Elizabeth looked at him with some scepticism, before getting swatted in the face by her own wing. "Well, except for when that happens." He laughed.

Elizabeth struggled a bit to get her wing out of her face, her muscles bending painfully from the gust hitting them. "If you think this is so easy, then why don't you get _your_ wings out and see how funny it is."

"Can't. Don't have any. I fly by using my cane's magic and catching the wind. Now, stop whining and flap those wings." Elizabeth looked around nervously, giving her wings a couple of small flaps before jumping into the air. She then promptly fell back into the snow. As she got back up, spitting out snow, she saw Jack laughing at her. She glared at him before trying to fly again. And again. And again.

"This is stupid!" She said after the fifth faceplant into the snow. "I flew this morning and last night. Why can't I fly now?"

"I think your problem is that you're concentrating too hard. You're trying to keep track of everything, and you can't keep track of anything. Stop focusing on your wings and jumping so much. Just jump and loosen up."

"Maybe I should lessons with the Tooth Fairy. At least she _has_ wings." She grumbled as she got up, ready to try one more time. She took deep breaths, before deciding to try his tip. What the hell, it wasn't like she could land any worse. As she jumped, she just emptied her mind of everything. Then she yelled as she kept going up, faster than before. She looked over her shoulder to see her wings flapping away. As she laughed in excitement, she tried to angle downwards and soar over Jack's head. She laughed again as she got closer, but started yelling in panic as she realised she was going too low. Jack had a look of horror as she ploughed right into him. They yelped in pain as they skidded across the ice, her wings poking him in the eye as his staff rapped her on the elbows. They finally stopped after a while, her wings trapped uncomfortably underneath her and beneath Jack.

"Ow." She moaned, rubbing he head where Jack's staff got a very hard knock. He was muffled by the feathers in front of his face, but she got the impression he was laughing.

"Don't worry." He said once he pulled himself off. "I learnt that the hard way too. Flying is easy. _Landing_ is hard." She sat up, flapping her wings once to straighten them. She then yelled as a strong gust pushed her back over. "How about we try something else for the time being."

"Shaddup."

**/~-~\**

"As Death, you have the powers to move through all things." Bunnymund was saying to her back in the warmth of the Workshop. "It doesn't matter what it is, mate. Walls, buildings, vehicles, rubble, fire. Your job is to get to wherever people died and claim their souls so they can cross over. Or something like that. Now, walk through this wall here."

Elizabeth gave him a look as if he was crazy. Part of her knew she had as much chance of walking through a wall as of winning a Miss Universe contest. But a bigger part pointed out she had been walking through things before. She walked through the shop door without opening it. But how? She decided to concentrate really hard on walking through the wall, and ran straight for it. All that accomplished was making a big thud as she ran into it at full speed. She fell over, moaning in pain as her nose healed. Bunnymund shook his head as he sighed.

"Nah, mate. That's not how you do it. According to the book, you are 'supposed to realise that the wall is less real than you are'. Whatever_ that_ means."

"Feels pretty real to me." Elizabeth groaned as she sat up again. What had she been doing when she walked through the door before? Was it the lack of magic? Or was she in a different state of mind? Or…?

She snapped her fingers as she realised what she did. She walked backwards into it. That must be how she walked through things. Kinda weird, but if it still works… She took a deep breath as she moved back to the starting line. She turned around, and did her best to walk backwards. She kept going until she saw the wall appear in front of her. She whooped in excitement that she managed it, until her foot stepped into open air.

The wall had led her straight to the center of the workshop.

**/~-~\**

"Maybe we should call it a day for now." Jack said as one of Santa's yetis helped push Elizabeth's arm back into its socket. "I think you've hurt yourself enough for now."

"The sooner I can control this power, the better. And trust me, after getting killed by a car, falling's nothing." She gave her arm a few twists, wincing as her muscles healed again. "Besides, there's got to be an easier way to use my power besides walking backwards. What else do we have to cover?"

Santa muttered as he looked through the book. "Next power to learn is releasing aura." Elizabeth's heart grew cold as she realised what that meant.

"You want me to learn how to kill."

"This guy seems pretty keen on being the bad guy." Jack said. "The last guy we fought had an army working for him, and this guy might as well. You need to learn how to fight. So, your opponent is Sandy." They pulled away to show the Sandman knitting a sweater from sand. He looked at her and waved.

"You're kidding, right? I mean, his power is over dreams. He might be tough, but I'm a lot bigger than him."

"Well then, this won't be too difficult. And at least you two can't kill each other." They formed a ring, with the elves and yetis as far away as they could. Liz sighed as she formed her scythe again.

"Alright Sandy. I really don't want to hurt you. But, I might as well get it over with." She swung her scythe, the blade passing through the floor where he had been standing. Now at her side, Sandy created whips of golden sand, knocking her hands away from her scythe before spinning her dizzyingly, and then grabbing her by the feet, throwing her into the air and slamming her into the ground. Her scythe vanished, reappearing by her side.

"…Ow." She whispered, trying to get her breath back.

This was going to take a while.

**/~-~\**

Death was sitting in his domain, what the Man in the Moon was going to make that little girl's domain. Looking like a throne room for an evil overlord, with black spikes everywhere and skeletons decorating the halls, he surveyed as his will changed the layout of it. The windows showed scenes of history's greatest sites of death, as the candles and chandeliers glowed with pale green fire. Finally, his throne was made from bone and shadow, stretching high overhead on a pillar with steep stairs. The meagre souls he had claimed wailed as they remained trapped. He got off his throne and moved down the hall, admiring his work. He came back to find this place decorated like a funeral parlour, with simple walls and rooms. Pathetic. To think someone like that could take his place. He gave a loud chuckle as he exited into the main body. It was a bottomless pit of darkness, rooms and corridors hanging haphazardly from the walls. And none of them were straight, no. They were all tangled and crooked, some even looking like ribs of an ancient creature. Finally, he reached the absolute centre of his domain, where there was a globe of the world on a stand. Made of shadows and bone, it was an identical twin to the one residing in Santa's Workshop. But while that one had been lit up with all the children that believed in him, this one was nearly dark. For Death didn't need belief to survive. Disbelief wouldn't stop people from dying. No, this globe was to tell him when people were dying.

All he had to do, was wait.

**So yeah. Not that much this time round. But we do get to see the new enemy. And I decided to make it that barring outside efforts, the Guardians were nearly immune to his attacks. Let's face it, the power of death would be nearly unstoppable. And we got to see Elizabeth learn how to use her powers, that was a bit funny.**


	5. Death Wants a Holiday

**Here we go. Sorry this took so long. I was a bit busy with my other stories, work, gaming, and more ideas for stories crowding around in my head. And when I first started this, I didn't really have a full plot in mind. All I had was a girl who became death, fighting an evil Death, and how cool the ending fight will be. I might need to spend some time plotting out the rest of the chapters. I hope you guys can wait.**

**Now, on with the story.**

Chapter 5: Death Wants a Holiday

_No one can confidently say that he will still be living tomorrow. ~Euripides_

Elizabeth groaned as she pulled herself through her open window. She landed with a heavy thud, her wings in tatters and her skin bruised. She heard her body click and snap as it fixed itself, while she crawled her way over to the bed. The wings faded as she flopped onto her covers, and only then did she speak.

"…Ow." She whispered again. After her pathetic performance during the first match, she made sure not to under estimate Sandy again. But apparently becoming Death hadn't given her some unstoppable skill with a scythe. She knew enough to use it without killing herself (again), but it became very clear that Sandy was far more skilled. Try as she might, she could never hit anywhere close to him. After one _very_ frustrating match (having to sneeze out cake was the least of her worries), they all learnt that she could change the scythe into other things. Swords, flails, daggers, bows, even a bomb. Apparently, if you could kill someone with it, she could use it. But nothing she used was of any more help. After having her arm get relocated for the fifth time, Santa decided they should stop for the day. She immediately decided to fly back home, worried that her parents were looking for her. But now that she was here, the bed felt so comfortable. It would be nice to rest, after all that punishment. In fact, she was pretty sure she hadn't slept at all for the last 36 hours. She closed her eyes, and searched for the faint sound of dreamland…

"Liz?" Matt asked, his knocking rudely waking her up again. "Are you awake?"

"Uh, I am now." She groaned, turning to look at the door. "What is it, squirt?"

"Well, if you're awake, Mom was wondering if you could come down for dinner." The room echoed with the growling of her stomach. She was surprised that the whole house didn't shake from it. Matt started giggling.

"Tell Mom I'll be down in a moment." She replied, peeling herself away from her sheets and having a look at herself. You'd think that being dead meant she wouldn't need to eat anymore. Maybe that was why zombies started eating everything. Because no one's going to make them a sandwich when they're starving, and they've been starving this whole time.

Her clothes looked alright, but she could've sworn she saw some dust on them. Or sand. But it'll pass inspection for dinner. She opened the door to the hallway, wincing as her body still fixed itself. As she came down the stairs, she saw Mom smile at her, before frowning.

"Elizabeth, what happened to you?" She asked. "You look like you've been in a fight." Liz found a mirror nearby and nearly groaned aloud. For some reason, her skin was still slightly bruised. Not enough to made anyone suspicious of violence, but definitely enough to make it seem she hadn't been sleeping all day like they thought.

"I don't know." She lied. "I must've tossed and turned in my sleep. I didn't even realise I had these." She saw Mom watch her carefully, before she decided to change the subject. "So how's your day been? Anything exciting happening lately?"

"Not much, business as usual. Oh, and the Bennett's were wondering if you were up for looking after Jamie and Sophia tomorrow."

"Maybe." She said half-heartedly. If she was supposed to save the world from Death himself, then she wasn't sure what her schedule would be like. Better to play it by ear for now, at least until she could find someone else to pass this thing onto.

"You don't have to rush dear. I'm sure the Bennetts will understand." Dad said as he sat down at the table, still wearing his magnifying glasses. Liz and Matt both thought it made him look like a bug, his eyes made huge by the multiple lenses. "The important thing is that you feel better."

Liz sighed as she sat down. From the sounds of it, Mom and Dad were even less likely to let her go anywhere. Ironically, now she _had_ to go everywhere. At least now she's got a horse to get her around. She smiled at the thought of her in full Death look, catching a ride on the bus. It was all she could do to not start laughing aloud. They were soon partway through their dinner when Matt spoke up.

"Daddy, I heard Mum talking to you about the car that hit Liz. Have they found the man yet?" Everyone stopped as he said that, quickly glancing in her direction. Suddenly the food didn't taste so good.

"Uh, no not yet. But they are hard at work trying to find them. I'm sure they'll find him in no time." Dad said quickly, glancing all the time at her. Matt just frowned as he said that.

"But shouldn't the man have told the police he hit her? Isn't that the right thing to do?"

"It is, sweetie. But quite a few people just can't seem to do the right thing for anyone. And people like that are punished by the police." She smiled at Liz.

Liz merely put the cutlery down. "May I be excused? I don't feel very hungry." And she got up and left the room.

That's right. She was so busy trying to figure out that weird dream and what it meant, that she hadn't given a single thought to the car that had hit her. The fact that Death showed up to recruit her told her that it would've normally been fatal. She tried to remember back to that incident, and what happened leading up to it. She had been distracted by her ex calling her, she hung up on him, and then the car hit her. Apart from the roar of the engine, she didn't have any warning that it was coming. Hell, if she hadn't turned in time, she would've never known a car hit her until someone told her. And part of her could've sworn that she's seen that car before. If she was going to keep doing this job, then she needed to find out who was responsible for trying to kill her.

_But first,_ she thought to herself as her muscles twinged, _I need a nice warm bath._

**/~-~\**

Jack whistled to himself as he flew around the town, glad to have finished his job of spreading frost to cities and generally having some fun with people. But deep down, he was a bit worried about Elizabeth. Poor girl must've been worried sick. While he didn't remember anything for centuries until Manny made him a Guardian, at least his job wasn't so important. He had all that time to take things slow. But Manny had her remember everything and pretty much all but said what her job was because it was _that_ important. She needed to learn as they went along, or else Death would take over again. He must've been bad if Manny had to appoint someone else. As he passed by Jamie's house, he thought he heard a familiar voice yell from the next house.

"Oh come on!" Elizabeth shouted, something splashing around her. "Can't I even get a few minutes of relaxing? Why can't this guy die tomorrow or something?" Huh. Sounded like she was on the clock again. Jack floated over and rapped on her window, making her shriek. She cleared enough steam to look out and glare at him. He waved, and made a little patch of frost with a smiley face on it. She froze it over and drew a hand with the middle finger extended. Shrugging, he flew on over to her window and waited for her to get ready. It didn't take too long.

"Ok then." He said as she came flapping out the window. "Lunch break's over, time to get back to work, yadda, yadda, yadda. Come on. You'll get used to the hours after doing it for a few hundred years."

"Tell me, do you make it a habit to watch people through the bathroom windows? Cause that's pretty creepy."

"What? No. I was just there because I heard you yelling. You've got a good set of lungs on you, you know. So who are we after?" Elizabeth pulled out her phone to look at the list.

"Some guy named Horatio Dennison, over in Louisiana. Hopefully, this will be easy."

"I'll let the others know. If Death shows up, maybe we can do better this time."

"Thanks."

**/~-~\**

"You'd think this job would be easier." Bunnymund said calmly as Elizabeth chased the soul around the place. "I always thought they just stood still like that last guy did."

"Some people cannot accept being dead." Santa replied as they watched them go. "Is part of life and human nature."

"You'll never take me alive!" Horatio screamed as he ran past again. "I want to live!"

"You were hit by a _train_!" Elizabeth shouted as she followed, sounding out of breath. "You're a messy stain on the tracks! Now hold still!" She slashed at him again, but he was too far away, and the motion caused her to stumble. She came to a stop in front of the Guardians, panting before nearly keeling over. She glared at them. "Well? Aren't you guys going to help?"

Sandy smiled at her, before grabbing Horatio with a whip of sand. The souls screamed as it came flying back, until Elizabeth got him with the edge of the scythe. He turned into a mist that flowed into her belt, wailing as it went. "Thank you." She replied sarcastically. "Now, I'm going…" She stopped as her phone rang, marking another soul that needed to be claimed. She groaned. "What now?" Over in the distance, an explosion rumbled the train tracks and shook the ground. Smoke billowed into the sky."

"Ooh." Jack winced. "That looks bad." Elizabeth's horse materialised next to her, head-butting her in the back. She glared at it, muttering dark things, before pulling herself on.

"Come on. I've got more work to do."

**/~-~\**

"Well." Toothiana said. "That's something you don't see every day." _That_ was the ghost of a train. As in the whole thing, passengers and all. They had found the wreckage further back, crashed into a large truck. They didn't really know what happened, but Elizabeth decided to leave that to the police. Right now, she had a train to reap. They flew on closer to the locomotive, until they were next to the window. She looked in to see the crew smiling as they went about their work. She quickly knocked on the window, surprising the driver.

"Hello there." He said cheerfully. "Have to admit, I don't get many flying horses. And look, you've got Santa with you. Name's Drake. How can I help you fine folks?"

"Pull over." Elizabeth shouted at him.

"What? Is this a robbery? You don't seem like the kind of people to rob a train."

"We're not robbing you. You're dead. Along with all your passengers." Drake looked at her funny before chuckling to himself.

"No we ain't. We were lucky. Not many trains can handle hitting a truck, but old Bessie's one of a kind. He slapped the side in a jovial fashion. "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to get these fine fellows to Missouri as fast as possible. Don't want to be cooped up in here all day." As he closed the window, they could hear him humming.

"I don't have time for this." Liz groaned. "Come on. I've got a plan." They all pulled away until they were directly behind the rear carriage. Liz changed her scythe into one of those sheep-hook things they used on old plays, and carefully pulled herself onto the carriage. As she entered, the other flew alongside the carriages, watching her swing her scythe and collect the souls. Most of them didn't notice her any more than they noticed they were dead. As she stepped into the next carriage, the ones behind her faded into mist and were pulled into her belt like all the souls. It wasn't until she was the second-to-last carriage that something went amiss.

"Why, you're nothing more than a lunatic." Drake said accusingly to her. "Well you're not killing any more of my passengers, no sir ree." And he pulled out the pin holding the carriages together. The one Liz was standing on started fading around her. "So long Miss Murderer." Liz looked around, before turning her scythe into a grapple hook and latching onto the frame above Drake. The grapple pulled her blindingly fast, causing her to crash into Drake and tumble through the remaining carriages. The souls within flickered as her grapple passed through them all, until they crashed into the locomotive. Jack quickly looked in to see if she was alright.

"Miss, please remove yourself from my face." Drake mumbled. Elizabeth had landed so that her waist was on top of his head, most likely meaning he was looking at something… private. She shrieked, and stabbed him in the head with the blade. As she got back up and brushed her robes down, she glared at Jack.

"Not. One. Word." She gritted out, stomping over to her horse."

"Wouldn't dream of it."

**/~-~\**

"Well, here we are. And I don't see a single dead person." Elizabeth was getting annoyed. This job should be easy. She should swing her scythe and then she'd get a soul. But _nooo_. She had to go and chase people down. And now her stupid list was sending her on a wild goose chase.

"I don't think list makes mistakes." Santa said to her. "If soul is here, then soul is here."

"Well then where is he? There's nothing her but some construction equipment and this wood chipper." She banged the side of it in frustration.

"Um, excuse me." An echoing voice startled them. "Is one of the Reaper?"

"Yeah, are you the soul I'm after?" Liz looked around, but she couldn't see where it was hiding. "Where are you?"

"Uh, this is kinda embarrassing. I'm… in the chipper." They looked at each other in surprise, before turning to face the chipper. "I was feeding it some branches when the whole thing jammed on me. I went to pull the branch out, but instead it went shooting back in with me right behind it. On the bright side though, I can see what's wrong with it. The teeth are a bit mangled."

"Well, that explains why the woodchips are red." Bunnymund said, hopping over to the brown-and-red pile.

"Oh. Well, hopefully the others will notice I'm gone." They all looked around at the workers milling around them. None of them acted like a man had just fallen in a wood chipper. Two of them passed by, talking to each other.

"Hey, you seen Phillip anywhere?" The short stocky one asked his friend.

"You mean that nerdy fellow? Nah. Haven't seen him since the foreman put him on wood duty. Why, you think he fell in?"

"Good riddance, I say. He was always whining about one thing or another. Things are looking up now that he seemed to have gone quiet." They laughed as they kept walking.

"Yeah? Well screw you guys." Phillip shouted after them, even though they couldn't hear him. "Those 'complaints' were about your utter lack of respect for safety and rules. Hey Reaper. Can you do me a favour?"

"I'm going to pull you out anyway." Elizabeth said, already guessing his question. "I can't collect you while you're in there."

"Oh thanks. But that wasn't what I was going to ask. I was wondering, when those two idiots get themselves killed, could you say 'I told you so' for me?" Liz smiled and went to pull him out, when her phone chimed. She sighed, knowing she was going to get sent all the way to the other side of the world. But according to her phone, this next one was almost right next to them. She looked up at some scaffolding to find a very fat man keeling over, hand on his chest.

"Hey Phillip. Do you know anyone that's dying of heart failure?"

"Oh, that'll be Dave. I kept telling him, 20 inch subs every day is not good for you." Liz took flight up to the scaffolding, finding Dave to be only a few seconds from dying. He glared at her, seemingly already capable of seeing her.

"Look, let's make this easy." She said to him. "Just hold still, and this will all be over."

"Like hell I will." Dave snarled. "I ain't dying."

"Your heart and kneeling says otherwise. Look, this is clearly hurting you. Just give me a moment, and…"

"I can kick your scrawny ass, bitch!" Dave yelled, charging her far faster than she expected of someone as large as him. She couldn't move in time to avoid him knocking them both off the scaffolding, causing her to land on a plank sitting on a barrel with a 'oof' of breath. As she tried to get him off, she noticed that she had been tackled by his ghost. But then where was his body?

She looked up in time to see his corpse fall onto the other side of the plank, catapulting them both into the air. She tried to flap away, but her wings were still hurt after she fell on them. She and Dave both looked in time to see that they were heading for the still-working wood chipper.

This was going to hurt.

**/~-~\**

"Wow. You look like you've been in a fight with a wood chipper." The cashier at the Finger-Chicken Good fast food store said to her. Elizabeth only grunted as she took the tray of food back over to their table. Everyone else started digging in, but Liz merely rested her head against her arms.

"That wasn't _too_ bad." Toothiana said helpfully. "It didn't hurt you that much. And you managed to get both of them."

"You've got something in your hair." Jack mumbled through his mouthful of food. Liz groped around until she found something pointy, and then tugged until she got it free. It was a broken piece of the shredder. She tossed it into the bin before wolfing down her meal. "Look, no one said that being Death would be easy. You're still new at this, and obviously that means you'll need some more practise."

"Mate, I think she needs a lot more than some 'practise'." Bunnymund said as he nibbled on his salad. Jack gave him a look, but he didn't react.

"Uh." Elizabeth groaned. "He's right. I'll _never_ get the hang of this. I could train until I'm 80 and I'll still just make a mess."

"No you won't." Toothiana tried to cheer her up. "What, you thought we were any better? I kept flying into everything when I first got my wings. Bunnymund had to learn how to unlock doors when he first went out for Easter. You've only been at this for a day. Just give it some time. You'll be the best Reaper." This charming moment was ruined by another chime. Elizabeth looked at the screen, but seemed a bit confused.

"Ok, this is a weird one. We've got both at the same location, with one death right now. But the other one is later, _and_ there's no list of what did the deed. What gives?"

"I do not know." Santa said as he got up. "But you need to collect. Best to head off now."

"And I didn't even get to finish my bloody salad."

**/~-~\**

"That's just disgusting." Toothiana shuddered, backing away.

"I'll say. This is just sick and wrong." Bunnymund followed her. "I can't believe someone could do something like that."

"Indeed." Santa mused. "How hard is it to remember to flush the toilet after use." He reached over and flushed away the waste the previous user had left behind.

"Oh sure, forgetting to flush. _That's_ the nastiest thing." Elizabeth snarked. "The fact that we've got a dead lady in the bathtub isn't anywhere near as bad." They at least had the decency to look embarrassed. Maybe it was their way of handling all of this. "This lady must've pissed someone off pretty good. She died from a heroin overdose, knife to the throat, _and_ getting drowned."

"Yikes." Jack said as he passed. "I thought that all got left in the dark ages."

"I agree. Such things are not needed. Such a shame." Santa replied while he left the bathroom too. They all entered the living room to find the next victim, Garcia Sanchez, snorting away at drugs. Elizabeth mentioned the news mentioning he was a powerful drug cartel leader. She wished she could stop him here and now. But no. She had to wait for the right moment. Thankfully, that was very soon.

"At least she's stopped trying to get her life back through sex. No matter how many times I tell her I'm a girl, she still kept offering." The others decided to look around the house for 'evidence' that the police could get a tip off about. And meanwhile, Elizabeth got more and more annoyed as nothing seemed to be happening. He was still acting exactly the same. And she didn't have a clue about what she had to do.

_Maybe you need to set something up._ She thought to herself. _If this guy decided to do something while high, and he suddenly died from it, then it was just a happy accident._ Her mind made up, she walked off to find something to kill him with. Since when had she gone from hating the job to actually working at it? Probably when she found the dead lady in his bathroom. He was treating it the same way someone might treat a tissue on the floor. She went past the garage, muttering, until she heard someone else muttering inside it. She peeked round the door to see a man fiddling with the car. Perfect. She could knock out the repairman, mess with the car, and let the creep explode. Just like in the movies.

"Ok, so turn this doohickey that-away, then pull out this wire, followed by pushing on this thing…" The man said to himself as he tried to do his work. "Jumpin Jiminies, how hard is to sabotage a car these days? And where did I put that wrench?" Liz offered it to him, having grabbed it as a weapon, and he plucked it from her hands. "Oh, thanks lady." He messed with it a bit longer, before stopping and taking a proper look at her. She had made herself visible to waved at him. "…Must be fiddling with the right things if _you're_ here." He said after a while, before getting back to work.

"That's it? Death is standing right here, and you don't care?"

"Well, since I'm trying to cause my boss to suffer an 'accident', I think you being here is a bonus. Now, be a dear and hold onto this wrench for me. I need to tighten this thing shut again."

"I'm not too sure how I feel about this." She said as she kept the wrench in place. "I mean, if anyone deserves to die, it's this creep. I came here originally for the girl in the tub. But I'm worried that someone else will just take his place."

"Sure they will. Nature of crime. When someone as big as him falls, everyone scrambles to collect the pieces. Eventually, one guy will collect enough to take his spot. Mind you, _anyone's_ got to be better than him. He's a crazy, bloodthirsty sadistic idiot half the time, and the other half he's completely doped up. That's why I'm bailing out before he has me killed. That, and he killed my family. They say anything to you?"

"I… I just got this job a few days ago. So if they did, I didn't hear them say it."

"Ah well, worth a shot." He grunted as he slammed the hood down. "I just hope you'll take him to whatever burning pit he belongs in. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to get my boss in the car." He walked off, with Liz right behind him. She found the others raiding the fridge.

"I just found our cause of death." She told them, as the gang member dragged his boss after him. They all followed them as the boss ranted and raved, before pushing the guy away and stepping into his car. The guy backed off as his boss struggled with his keys, laughing as he got them in. Elizabeth pushed the others back into the hallway as a large fireball rushed past them. She looked in to find the whole room ablaze. Moving quickly, she spotted the guy rushing out the back as she collected the soul. It ranted and shouted until it diffused against her belt.

This creep was finished.

**/~-~\**

"Well even I know what this guy's dying of." Jack said as they stood in a restaurant. "Heart failure." 'This guy', whose name badge said was Duncan, was a massive man eating a course big enough for seven people. His belly barely fitted under the table, spilling over the top. How he got in there was a mystery.

"Actually, according to my list, this isn't our man." Liz had a closer look at her phone to make sure she got the details right. "While this _is_ the right table, we're looking for a John Friedle. Cause of death is…getting sat on."

"…Eww." They all shuddered, as they realised what exactly happened.

"Ok. I've got to get our guy out from under there. And I know exactly how to do that." Liz sat down at the other chair facing Duncan, before fading into view. He kept eating for a while longer until one mouthful made him look up. He chewed for a few more seconds until he stopped, slowly looking at her again. She got her scythe out, making sure to lean it against the window, and just waited while drumming her bony fingers. He took a big gulp as his clothes became stained with sweat. After a few seconds of staring at each other, Liz getting hypnotised by the dancing chins, he started pulling himself out of the chair noisily. She faded out of view again as everyone turned to watch him while plates and scraps flew around. One he finally pulled his girth free, he started screaming and ran out of the restaurant, followed closely by a staff member shouting about paying for the meal. While everyone watched them go, she quickly grabbed the next soul. A small, very thin man with beady eyes looked at her forlornly.

"Can you believe it?" He asked her. "I got killed because some guy didn't look before sitting on me. _Sitting._ That's got to be the stupidest death you've ever seen."

"Well, you could've been sat on by a much smaller man. That would've been a worse way to die." She said helpfully. He just glared at her.

"Oh, get it over with already."

She obliged him.

**/~-~\**

"Uh." She groaned. "When I said I wanted to see the world, going to places of death was not what I had in mind. Now the only way I'll see Notre Dame is if someone gets killed in it."

"Hey, today wasn't too bad." Jack consoled her. "At least you've got an idea of what you're doing. I just made frost for the fun of it at first. Got in a bit of trouble for having frost in the middle of summer." She gave him a look. "Hey, how was I supposed to remember that it was a winter thing? I only remembered my name because Manny called me by it. I was completely clueless about anything else."

"I find that hard to believe." She laughed. "And thanks for escorting me home. You didn't really have to go out of your way to do so."

"I'm not. I actually live out here. Over by that frozen lake in the woods." He pointed to the woods not far from her house. She remembered her parents telling her not to go there when she was younger, since some kid died out there. Now she knew who it was. "So, I'll see you tomorrow? Help you settle into your role better?"

"Thanks. But I don't think I'll ever get used to my 'role'. I mean, how can you get used to seeing all this stuff?"

"Maybe by taking all the laughs you can get. I handled not being believed in a lot better when I made kids laugh and have fun. Maybe you should try and get a few laughs out of your work. Like that fat dude. As tragic as it was, the fact a guy died from getting sat on was pretty funny."

"…Ok, it was actually funny."

"That's the spirit." He slapped her on the shoulder. "Who knows, you might get some chances to bring bad guys down yourself."

"I'd like that." She smiled. Until she spotted something _very_ familiar.

A brown sports car with silver bumpers and vinyls. She didn't see the sides, and the front had been reworked. But this was definitely the car that killed her. She watched as the car turned on, before driving away. She made sure to remember the street number of the house as she and Jack walked away, watching the car drive off. As soon as she could, she was going to find that killer.

And make him talk.

**There we go. I thought about having a bit of fun with some people dying (not that I laugh at all deaths). And I wanted to have Liz suffer a bit more. It's all ok, she's immortal. You can't really die when you're already dead.**

**And yeah, I also started up her investigation. I always had a plan for that besides setting up the story. We'll get introduced to some possible suspects over the next few chapters, so it won't be a shot from the dark. And I'm not from America, so if I get some things wrong about where places are, I'm really sorry. Louisiana and Missouri were a couple of places I've heard about, and so therefore somewhere foreigners would also know.**

**See you next chapter (Hopefully much sooner than this one).**


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